When you enter a room from bright sunlight, it initially appears dark, but your eyes gradually adjust to the lower light. If you wake up at midnight to drink water, you can still move around easily, even without lights, because your eyes have adapted to the darkness.
This experience happens because the iris controls the amount of light entering your eyes. The iris, a muscular diaphragm behind the cornea, adjusts its size based on the surrounding light. It expands or contracts, changing the size of the pupil—the hole in the center of the iris. In dim light, the iris contracts, making the pupil larger to let in more light. In bright light, the iris expands, reducing the pupil’s size to limit light entry.
A camera uses a diaphragm instead of an iris, while the aperture functions as its pupil. Simply put, the aperture is the hole that opens when the shutter clicks, allowing light to reach the film or sensor. It plays a crucial role in photography as one of the three pillars of the Exposure Triangle, along with ISO and Shutter Speed.
F-stop or F-number
Photographers measure aperture using f-stop or f-number. The f-stop scale includes values like f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, and f/22. Some cameras display these numbers as f1.4, f2, f2.8, and so on. The lens and its focal length determine these values. Depending on the settings, intermediate values may also vary.
A smaller f-stop value means a larger aperture because the f-stop represents a ratio. The f-number is the ratio of the lens’s focal length to the aperture diameter.
Aperture diameter = focal length of lens/f-stop
For each jump in f-number to its right, the aperture reduces by half. f/1.4 has the largest aperture while f/22 has the smallest aperture.
How does aperture affect the image?
Changing the aperture affects an image in two ways: It alters Brightness and Depth of Field (DOF).
Low f-stop -> Large aperture -> More bright, low DOF
High f-stop -> Small aperture -> Less light, high DOF
Brightness
A lower f-stop increases the aperture diameter, allowing more light to enter. Increasing the f-stop number reduces the amount of light passing through the aperture.
Depth of Field (DOF)
Depth of Field (DOF) determines how much of an image appears sharply focused. A shallow DOF keeps only a specific part of the image sharp while blurring the rest, commonly seen in portrait photography. A deep DOF ensures everything stays sharp and in focus, making it ideal for landscape photography.
In the first image above, the photographer sets the f-stop to the smallest value. The lens focuses on the white peg, making it sharp while blurring the other pegs. The photographer can adjust the focus to any object in the image, keeping it sharp while the rest remains blurred and out of focus.
In the second image, the photographer sets a high f-stop, ensuring everything appears sharp and in focus. A high f-stop is ideal for landscape photography, as it captures maximum detail.
In this combo image, the photographer varies the f-stop from the lowest (f/1.8) to the highest (f/22) for a 50mm focal length lens. As the f-number increases, the sharpness expands, focusing first on a single bottle and eventually bringing all three bottles into focus.
The photographer maintains consistent brightness by adjusting the shutter speed while keeping the ISO fixed at 100 for all six images.
As a quick reference, use
- a low f-stop for portraits and close-up shots. This setting keeps the subject in sharp focus while blurring the background.
- a high f-stop for landscapes to keep the entire image sharp and clearly visible
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